Most active venture capital investor for early-stage startups in Berlin

Have you ever wondered, what the most active venture capital investors for early-stage Berlin-based startups are? This short CrunchBase analysis gives you an idea!

Let’s take a look at the venture capital scene for Berlin-based startups. For quite some time the vibrating scene of startups in Berlin has attracted a high number of venture capital firms to the city. So, dear energetic startup founder, you need not worry too much about finding your seed financing – there is more than one active venture capital investor in Berlin who wants to give his money to great teams with great products!

I do not want to analyse the reputation of every venture capital investor in Berlin and suggest which one should be preferred (if you are so attractive that you can choose). Instead I would like to compare some hard numbers I have taken from CruchBase just today. I asked myself: which venture capital fund has funded the most startups based in Berlin this year. So, from your perspective, which investor is statistically speaking most likely to fund you as well.

What is the most active venture capital investor for early-stage startups in Berlin?

First, I have to say that this is by far not a representative analysis. I have taken into account only the deals that were made public on CruchBase since January 2016. These are also not only seed rounds, but all investments made in that interval.

But, I also think this simplified analysis gives you a first idea about which investor is really active giving lots of startups a chance, and which investor is very picky and only selects a very few startups to invest in.

Even though the most active venture capital investor overall since January 2016 has been the High-Tech Gründerfonds, only seven of their investments have been for Berlin-based startups. Point Nine Capital can also show quite a list of deals, but they are not so much focused on Berlin.

The most active venture capital investor from the perspective of a Berlin-based startup is the IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft. They are funded with government money and are only allowed to invest in Berlin-based startups. Even though they also want to make a (huge, if possible) profit from each investment, the numbers tell us that they give more startups a chance than the typical unicorn-searching private venture capital investor.

I am Arnas Bräutigam and I love Berlin and its startup scene. I am only a boring Sparkassen-guy, but I would like to be a help to all you young and hungry startup founders to better understand how banks thing and work.
After seven years in the International Division of Landesbank Berlin and almost a year as Berliner Sparkasse's startup expert I have a few important and insightful stories to tell.